At the end, the wife refers to the death of la Comtesse de Mendoze.
Her part was played by Sarah Pratt, but I do not recall her appearance in the movie. The husband seemed very upset and immediately left. What was her significance in the plot or the plot's ending?
I believe the Comtesse de Mendoza was the "aristocratic" woman Ryno took as a mistress after he left Vallini.
shareThat's correct.
A post in the thread **Spoiler** What is the ending? explains that the only scene with la Comtesse de Mendoze, played by Sarah Pratt, was deleted from the final cut of the film, but is included as an extra on the Region 2 European DVD. I kept looking for Sarah Pratt (the lead in Brief Crossing) but never saw her, so this explains why.